Overview
- Officials report 31 inmates killed in Machala and attribute the violence to moves to relocate high-risk prisoners to Santa Elena.
- Interior Minister Jhon Reimberg says the new facility will be run directly by the Interior Ministry rather than SNAI, which he says has failed.
- The complex is presented as a maximum-security site modeled on El Salvador’s Cecot, with a stated capacity between 736 and 800 and the first transfer carried out without prior public inauguration.
- President Daniel Noboa published images of shaved, bound inmates and confirmed Jorge Glas among those moved, while Glas’s lawyer calls the transfer humiliating and cites Inter-American Court precautionary measures.
- The opening comes days before a national referendum on security and constitutional changes, as nearby residents pursue legal challenges to the prison’s construction and report tight military controls around the site.